Israeli forces blow up ex-regime sites in southwestern Syria

Israeli forces on Sunday demolished military installations formerly used by the deposed Assad regime near Jandal Castle on Mount Hermon in southwestern Syria and shelled positions in the Quneitra countryside, Syrian state media reported.

Artillery strikes

Syrian state broadcaster Alikhbariah TV reported that Israeli troops destroyed the mountain sites and fired multiple artillery rounds southeast of the town of Al-Rafid in the southern Quneitra countryside, causing material damage to the area. The same outlet added that Israeli forces simultaneously targeted the Bir Ajam woodland west of the village of Zubaida in the central part of the region with a separate barrage. No casualties were immediately confirmed from either attack, though local sources indicated ongoing military activity in the vicinity.

Sovereignty violations

Southwestern Syria has witnessed repeated Israeli incursions since the fall of the Assad government, involving ground raids, arbitrary arrests and systematic land clearing operations near the Golan Heights buffer zone. Damascus has repeatedly condemned these actions as flagrant violations of national sovereignty and the 1974 Disengagement Agreement that ended the previous war between the two states. Syrian authorities have demanded the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied southern territories and urged the United Nations Security Council to intervene and enforce the decades-old armistice terms.

UN condemnation

Despite assertions from Damascus that the current Syrian government poses no security threat to Israel, Israeli forces have continued to conduct airstrikes and ground assaults targeting military assets and civilian infrastructure across the south. During a visit to the Syrian capital in July, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity were "unacceptable," explicitly calling on Israel to abide by the 1974 disengagement agreement. Syria maintains that these ongoing operations constitute clear breaches of international law and has filed formal complaints with the UN regarding the systematic nature of the aggression.